Watson11

Infinity should step up to be the BOJ sponsor? Roy Morgan produce research each year about car sponsorship of AFL, as the automakers get good ROI from it. Seems cheap for a car manufacturer to not be a major sponsor. If Infinity don’t want it then Pert has history signing sponsorships with car manufacturers.

How true. If players were traded whenever they considered a move home then Gaff, Sloane, and Kelly would be playing at different clubs.

Maybe but I’ll back Max and Preuss to lay more forward 50 tackles than Hogan did last year.

Judging by the number of photos posted in the last 4 weeks of Preuss versus May there is no way that Goody isn’t locked in on Preuss spending time forward as the 3rd tall. Hopefully it works well all season. Will be really valuable in low scoring finals.

SWYL, I seem to recall you have a tv industry background. Any interaction with Pert when he was MD of channel 9 in Melbourne? @rpfc, you sound like an old melbournian upset at losing guaranteed board seats whenever you wanted them. I’m happy those days are gone. I personally think the board and Bartlett have been excellent. He was spot on when he labelled MFC soft on and off the field in his first speech 5 years ago. MFC is no longer soft in either. Everything done by MFC in the last 5 years has been about losing that soft gentlemen club tag, game style, list management, player trades. I can’t imagine prior boards approving tough decisions like trading Watts. For me the Pert appointment is just another decision where the soft option would have been an internal appointment. Only time will tell if Pert delivers which will be almost entirely measured by delivering a facility in the MCG precinct, which he is uniquely qualified to do.

Geez I liked Melbourne 20 years ago. Less congestion, could afford a decent house, less crime, less traffic. Is Adelaide really that good? I’ll have to visit.

In the US the NFL draw is biased but not as badly as ours. They have groups where every team plays the others twice in that group which creates some equity in their group. The AFL could do something similar: 1. Two conferences of nine teams (5 Vic and 4 interstate) who play each other twice. To be fair each conference to have 1 team from each non vic state and split the smaller supporter bases (Saints, North, dogs, us). That is 16 games. 2. Other 6 games play against teams from the other conference including two games against a rival ie showdown, Coll v Mel if needed etc. These games are also based on ladder position from prior seasons with 2 games (one home and one away) against 1-3, 2 against 4-6 etc. means playing 5 of the teams in the other group with one double up. 3. Finals could just be top 4 from each conference and same as current series. Or ditch the pre finals bye and have the 4th from each conference play a wildcard team from the best performed 5th and 6th from both conferences to make the final 8. Would even up the travel for all teams, not lose rivalry games, and the draw difficulty would be much closer for everyone. Conference strength would change year to year but come finals it would be fair.

Better than most comparisons. Funny to look at the 2018 analysis that had us as the equal 3rd most difficult draw! Yet everyone else saying we had an easy draw by the end of the season. I don't mind our double ups and difficulty of the draw. In 2018 Richmond, Geelong, and Hawthorn were handed ridiculously good schedules. In 2019 all the top teams have tough schedules due to more Thursday night games. I think the top end of the draw is fairer this year. I also think it helps us as there is a lot of "veterans" in the other top teams that will be more injury prone than our younger list.

Surely Champion data have stuffed up the analysis. Geelong are bracketed as one of the top 4 toughest double ups, not Collingwood or GWS. I'd put Geelong maybe 9th or 10th. If they fixed that then Richmonds draw is in the top 4 or 5 most difficult. Richmond also have 2 sets of back to back 6 day breaks this year, versus none in 2018, so they have a tougher schedule.

I agree Geelong, Sydney, and Hawks will slide. Suspect Adelaide, North and Bombers to come up. Don't think Port will. Is Gil from Adelaide? They have no back to back 6 day breaks. Have 12 games at Adelaide Oval and mostly very winnable away games (Sydney where they do well, North at Marvel, St's, Lions, Cats, Suns, Carlton, Dogs). They double up against 2 bottom 3 teams despite not finishing bottom 6. They won 12 games in 2018 having a shocker, and have been gifted an extra 2 wins this year. I can't see them winning less than 15 games and they will probably win 17 and finish top 2. Considering Essendon finished equal with Adelaide on points and percentage, the contrast could not be more different. They double up against 4 of last years top 9 (like us but we earned it) plus the Dockers who will improve and be tough in Perth. The first 8 weeks could cook Essendons season with 4 x 6 day turnarounds and 1 x 5 day turnaround in a 7 week stretch. Let's see how Danihers groin stands up to that. The back half they have two 6 day turnarounds leading into away games (Eagles at Optus, Adelaide), and head to the Gold Coast after Adelaide (kind of game they will drop). I expect them to be more hot and cold than they were in 2018 and no certainty to make the 8 despite looking good on paper. We have a tough first 5 weeks due to short turnarounds (5 games in 25 days), but after that we have a good draw and will not have any excuses if we don't finish top 4 (we should be aiming for top 2). We can beat any team anywhere in 2019.

Our record at the MCG last year (and the year before) was 50:50..... We have a better record elsewhere. Hopefully we sorted that out at the end of the year and this year will be better.

The NT helped us recover financially and imo now we are decent we should support the NT. We should have an advantage up there by now. We've played it enough. I can't see why the geniuses at the AFL can't arrange a fixture with no more than one 6 day break in a row. Two in a row starts to hurt teams. This year Collingwood, Port, Adelaide, and Sydney had back to back 6 day breaks. Adelaide and Collingwood had bad soft tissue injuries. Port ended up cooked. Three 6 day breaks in a row kills seasons and should never happen (ie us in 2017). It's why we should have opened on Friday night.

The annoying thing is we will have two days less turnaround over the first 4 weeks than Richmond before ANZAC eve. We’ll have 3 6 day breaks, Richmond 1. Same re Collingwood and Essendon. No surprise to see the AFL favour Richmond and Collingwood there.... They know revenue will be great if they have good seasons...

I don't think so. I think the teams they play twice will be 3 in their 6 based on ladder positions, 1 in each of the other two groups of 6, with a showdown guaranteed against Port. Last years the teams Adelaide played twice were Port, Richmond, Melbourne, Carlton, and the Giants. They'll play Port twice and double up against 2 of Geelong, Sydney, North, and Essendon in 2019. They'll double up against one of the top 6 and have requested Hawthorn, Collingwood, and Richmond before us...

Read yesterday that Adelaide requested 6 home games against Melbourne teams (Richmond, Collingwood, Hawthorn, Geelong, Carlton, and Essendon). Surely they don’t want to play in Alice again!

I’m happy to argue it Hemingway. Not every investment pays off long term but if you don’t make them you end up broke. In Hogan’s case we got a good return while invested, but now sold that and invested it elsewhere. Jesse was drafted into the club when we were basket cases. Since he arrived we have gone from the basement to top 4. He made an impact as soon as he got on the ground and every year he was here the club improved and he was a part of it. Circumstances (Tmac becoming an elite forward, Weid stepping up at the end of the season), meant the FD were open to a trade. For every go home factor, or top draft getting a once in a lifetime offer, there are the Olivers and Brayshaws that if we didn’t invest in them we’d be back in the cellar soon enough.

Just a turn of phrase La Dee. Who kicks them with Hogan gone is what this thread is about. Point I was making is in big games goals are worth gold, and JH did not impact (9 goals in 8 games). I can see Max being a big weapon for us pushing forward more if Preuss plays. Max kicked 13.12 in 2018. Weid also can take pack marks in a way JH can't. 2 or 3 extra goals from contested marks in big games could be the difference between finishing 5th and 1st. If we keep improving hitting lead ups going inside 50 as well we'll be more dangerous next year than we were this year by far.

Gawns positioning helped but imo wasn’t the most important change. He couldn’t get back when we lost centre clearances. And when we were better at forward 50 pressure and slowing transition out of our forward 50 it allowed Gawn time to get back and bolster up our defence. Earlier in the season usain bolt wouldn’t have had time to get back. It’s evident the club wanted to further boost our defence, but also just as evident that players in our forward 50 who don’t work hard defensively are dropped or shown the door.

The stats you quote are for the entire season and we improved out of sight. Post St Kilda to the prelim we improved every single defensive stat and were the AFLs number 1 defensive team. Lowest points against, lowest points scored from turnovers (that came crashing down in the prelim), 4th lowest scores per oppo inside 50, 2nd best at forcing turnovers from oppo inside 50s (not sure of one on one stats but improved out of sight) etc etc. It was a stunning turnaround, and mainly because of forward 50 and midfield pressure, although Frost was good. Last 2 years when we keep oppo to less than 75 points we are 18 - 0. Average against in the post St Kilda to semi final period was 69 points. With Lever back and May in we will be beasts.... Best balanced team I can remember.

I’m one that doesn’t totally agree with you on defence but can understand your view. To me our defence starts in the forward 50 and mids. When we learnt to defend at the end of the season our defence was pretty good. Lever going down was a blessing in disguise because it was obvious that if our forwards and mids didn’t get the balance right then we’d struggle to make finals. But they worked it out just in time. But that said, I’m much happier to have Lever back and May to take the best forward. I think it clicked for the group at the end of the season. And 6-6-6 favours Melbourne more than any team (Number 1 centre clearance team). Think we’ll be impossible to beat next year if we get our defending in the forward 50 and mids right.

Agree. He takes contested pack marks which in big games and finals are gold. Few more kg and bigger tank and he’ll be a jet.

You may be right about how good he turns out and only time will tell. But my point was he is driven enough to be elite for a 2km time trial which at 100kg means he works damn hard, all while having significant off field issues. I don’t think we maximised his talent the way we kick inside 50. I don’t think Freo will either, but he’s good enough to be a consistent 40+ goal player for them. If their young mids thrive who knows. If he was at WC with Gaff, Hurn, Shuey, etc kicking to him he could have been a superstar. Glad that is not happening. The other thing about the trade for May, is next year May could have gone anywhere as an FA, and Mahoney etc knew we were the only team in play this year. If we waited, it’s possible May would have come on bigger $. So JM got the deal done and probably saved salary cap. I’m hoping his deal was front loaded, so that in years 3 onwards we have room to retain our current 20-23 year olds. I think it’s likely the FD have done it very well.

A bit unfair. After a tough 2017 he presented in 2018 at 100kg and ran a low 6min 2km time trial. You don’t do that by gorging on Pavlova over Christmas. As much as I was bullish on Hogan, I think we will be a better team overall in 2019 and don’t risk losing Weid now. I’m also happy he’s at Freo because at WC he has the attributes to be a lot better than Darling, but at Freo I suspect he’ll get more frustrated than he did at Melbourne...

I’m amazed Jesse still wanted to go there after the way Bell and Freo handled it last week (rumours about diligence and mental health, leaks about 8 year contracts etc). Freo must be really good liars. But let’s work on Brayshaw. Did anyone get a screenshot of him wearing a Melbourne scarf in the rooms after the semi-final. We need to get that shot out there.

We’ve lost 47 goals but I’m really only worried about adding to the 9 Jesse kicked in 8 games against the good teams last year. We’ll get more than that from Weid plus Max spending some time forward.